Silver coin

From Tibet, 18th century
AD

Bilingual Chinese-Tibetan
money

This coin has a Chinese inscription on one side
and a Tibetan inscription on the other. The Chinese side reads
'Qian long tong bao', arranged around the square
hole. 'Qianlong' refers to the reign of the Chinese
emperor Qianlong (1736-95), and
tongbao means
'circulating treasure' or 'coin'.
It is interesting how a square hole is represented on this coin,
although there was no intention of ever cutting it
out.

The Chinese presence
in Tibet had implications on coin production. The earliest coins in
Tibet (around the 1570s) had been made in Nepal, and by the 1720s
the Nepalese government was
striking
silver coins specifically for use in Tibet. In 1791 the Tibetan
government mint opened with the permission of the Chinese. However,
the mint was closed two years later. Meanwhile, in 1792, the
Chinese had opened a second mint in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa,
where they continued to produce coins until
1836.